Water reclaimer



Dec. 15, 1942. s, c s 2,305,408

WATER RECLAIMER Filed Afig. 21, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 n v Y 5151772175 E. S. CLEMENS WATER EGLAIMER Filed 1940 I mm 3-Sheet 5 2 15, 1942. E. s. CLEMENS WATER RECLAIMER Filed Aug. 21, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 HI MN Patented Dec. 15, 1942 UNITED stares i 2,305,408 TENT OFFICE FWATER RECLAIMER Edwin S. Clemens, New Orleans, La., ass'ignorito -Water :Reclaimer "Corporation, 'Mobile, "Ala., a

corporation of Alabama Application August 21, 1940, Serial No. 353,557

.5 Claims.

This invention relates to a water reclaiming apparatus, and ithas for its object-the economical extraction of pure 'waterffrom water which is biologically, organically (or inorganically Jimpure or contaminated.

The invention operates :upon the-principle of evaporating water in contact with air, thereby saturating the air with the water yaponand'then condensing the water out :of the air. The evaporcation of the water and'ithe saturation of theair takes place at temperatures below the atmospheric boiling point *of water, "both for the sake of economy and to prevent the breaking down or volatilization of the contaminating matters -'of the impure water.

'The purpose of the-invention 'is'to obtain pure water from any available source of raw water, for feeding boilers, etc., as well as for :drinking 'PHI'DOSBS.

One of the objects of the invention is to pro- "Vide a water reclaiming system in which a coi- "umn of air heated :to'a point well below the atmospheric boiling :point of water is'rec'irculated, for theisake of heat conservation, between a 'b'ody ofimpure water from whichthe pure wateris to V be reclaimed, anda condenser, bubbling through the impure water in the form of a plurality of streams or jets by which'its surface contact with the'water is many times multiplied, and be'coniing saturated with water vapor which is condensed out from the air in the condenser andcollected in a suitable storage vessel.

Another object of the invention is to provide that the body of impure water through whichthe recirculating air percolates shall alsobe heated to a temperature below its atmospheric boiling point. and supplied with sufilcient make-up water to compensate for depletion lay-evaporation and also to provide an optimum small Waste or overflow to preventraising of the density o'f the water body through concentration of sa'ltsor other impurities.

A further object of the invention is to provide "water reclaiming apparatus, includinga tank, in

the lower part of which the saturating function incident to gas and liquid contact between the air and impure water is performed, there being 'a bafiie construction in the upper part controlling the moist air outlet to the condenser, so as to abruptly change both the direction-and velocity of the column of moisture laden air approaching the outlet, for the purpose 'ofridding the air "of any liquid particle or impure water that might otherwise be drawn over into the condenser and in admixture with the pure water.

Other objects of the invention will-appearas the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany andform --'a part of the followingspecification, and throughout the several figures of which the same charbody therein below'the-water level 5. "in Figures 3 and 5,'the impure water supply pipe 6 debouches into the water body within'the tank acters :of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figurel is a longitudinalelevation showing a water reclaiming :system embodying :the principles of the present invention;

Figure 21is a'vertical section through the 'reclaiming'tank;

FigureB is a cross-'section'ztaken'alongtthe line 3.3 of Figurei2;

:Figure 41s a cross-section taken along the line '4-4 ofFigure '2; and

Figure 5 is .a longitudinal"diagrammatic layout 'of'the system.

sea, in the event th'at the apparatus is installed upon a boat.

"Impure water for reclamation purposes-is obtainedfrom a suitable source by way ofthe conduit 6, from which sourceit' is drawn by the pump '1 and discharge into the tank I into the water As shown I in opposite circumferential directions from the ends of the 'T-head I0 at the inner end of the supply pipe 6. The circumferentially directed jets issuing from this T-head create agitation throughout the water body, and prevent the settling of mud, etc., at the bottom of the "tank I. Air is supplied to the tank I by a blower 8, communicating by way of a conduit 9 with an air header I'll positioned beneath the tank i and preferably in contact with the bottom thereof.

-As shown, the air hcaderis concentric with the axis of the tank I, so'that the overflow pipe -'2 extends through it. The air header communicate with the interior of the tank I by means of a plurality "of-tubes II which extend through the bottom of 'the tank and have the shape of return bends, extending downwardly below the water level 5 and themselves terminating in perforated T-heads I 2 through the perforations of which air issues in an aggregate great multiplicity of fine air streams or jets which bubble up through the water body and diffuse in the chamber of the tank above the water level 5.

The upper-end of the tank I communicates'by way of the conduit I4 with a condenser 55, the

tubes of which carry a cooling fluid, preferably coldwater, pumped in by thepump IE5 through the pipe 'I='I,-and being-discharged bywaynf the pipe I 8.

-most economically, exhaust steam from any apparatus with which plicity of air jets It will be understood that the air issuing from the T-heads l2 becomes saturated with water vapor, in passing through the water body in the tank I, this saturated air passing by way of the conduit 14 to the condenser in which the moisture is condensed and delivered by way of the conduit H! to the storage tank 20 in the form of pure water, while the air dried in the condenser is delivered once again to the pump 8 by way of the conduit 2| and recirculated through the apparatus. Since in the course of its recirculation the air, at least in some portions of its circulatory path, is under some pressure, there will inevitably be some air leakage which is compensated by make-up air drawn in through the damper controlled port 22 of the pump 8.

It is, of course, desirable from the standpoint of efiicient vaporization of the water and saturation of the air, that the water be heated. This' heating may be accomplished by any of several heating means, and in the practice of the invention shown is accomplished by means of a steam coil 23 which may be helical, as shown in Figure 3, receiving steam from any conveniently available source by way of the pipe 24, and which steam, or its condensate, is exhausted by way of the pipe 25. The apparatus may be operated or course, through the use of the the water reclaiming apparatus may be associated, such for example as the power plant of a boat. As shown in the drawings, the air is also heated, the steam coil 24 passing from the tank I by way of the short connection 26 into the air header ID, in which it is disposed as an expanding helix communicating with the pipe 25. Even though the steam entering the coil 23 may be at or somewhat above the atmospheric boiling point of water, the temperature of the water body will be considerably lower than its atmospheric boiling point, due to the cooling efiect of the multiwhich percolate through the water body. It will be understood that in certain installations other heating means than steam may be more commercially or accessibly employed, and such are within the purview of the invention.

Inasmuch as economy in the reclaiming of pure water is of the essence of the invention, heat conservation both with respect to the heated air and the heated water, is provided for. By recirculation of the heated air, only enough additional heat is added to compensate for the cooling which the air undergoes in the condenser and the heating of the slight amount of make-up air which enters by way of the port 22. With regard to the water body, only enough make-up water is provided by the pump 1 to compensate for the amount of pure water'evaporated, and to provide for an optimum small overflow through the overflow pipe 2, which is to prevent material increase in the density of the water body through concentration of the salts or other impurities therein.

Figure 2 shows that the tank I is provided with a baflle construction, which in general is designated by the reference character 21 in Figure 2. Said bafiie construction occludes direct communication with the outlet from the tank I to the conduit l4 which leads to the condenser. Said bafiie construction comprises a cylinder 28 having a lower end Wall 29, with a central relatively small aperture 30. Both within and. without, said cylinder is provided with parallel discs 3| and 32, the former being somewhat smaller in diameter than the interior of the cylinder 28. Said discs are spaced away from the bottom wall of said cylinder by the spacers 33 and 34, which spacers surround the bolts 35 or other securing means which hold the discs 3| and 32 in place. The exiting moisture laden air must pass first around the periphery of the outer disc 32, then through the relatively small hole in the bottom wall 29, and then around the periphery of the inner disc 3|, before it passes into the conduit M. In being compelled to traverse this circuitous path, the moisture laden air is subjected not only to abrupt direction changes, but also to variations in velocity, assuring that any liquid particles of impure water which may be entrained in said air will be dropped and will not find their way into the condenser and into contaminating mixture with the pure water.

It is to be understood by those skilled in the artthat the specific details of construction or the arrangement of parts, as herein shown and described, are by way of example and not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In water reclaiming apparatus including a condenser and circulatory means, an evaporator comprising a tank, means for supplying raw water to the tank, means for maintaining a constant level of water in the lower portion of the tank and a plurality of circumferentially arranged air nozzles positioned below the water level and each arranged to discharge obliquely with respect to the adjacent wall, the circulatory means being arranged for forcing relatively dry air from the condenser to said air nozzles and drawing moist air from the top of the tank to the condenser with means 'for drawing the purified condensate'from the condenser.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the air nozzles are all inclined in the same direction with respect to a radius of the tank passing through each and each air nozzle has aligned oppositely disposed vents.

3. The device of claim 1 with means for heating the dry air before reaching the nozzles.

4. The device of claim 1 with a circuitous vent passage arranged to convey entrained matter back into the tank.

5. In water reclaiming apparatus including a condenser and circulatory means, a tank formed with two compartments one above the other, a heating coil arranged with convolutions on the bottoms of each compartment, a plurality of conduits extending through the partition separating the compartments into the upper compartment, said conduits arranged in spaced relation to the side wall of the tank and each formed with a return bend and a nozzle arranged obliquely with respect to the adjacent portion of the tank wall, said nozzles having oppositely disposed discharge orifices, means for supplying raw water to the upper compartment, means for maintaining a constant level of water in said compartment slightly above the discharge nozzles, a conduit leading from the top of the upper compartment to the condenser with means including a circuitous passage arranged to drain back into the upper part of the tank, a conduit leading from the condenser for dry air to the circulatory means and a conduit leading from the circulatory means to the lower compartment.

- EDWIN S. CLEMENS. 

